How to shape a Japanese persimmon (Diospyros rhombifolia) bonsai? Methods and techniques explained in detail

The Japanese persimmon (Diospyros rhombifolia) looks attractive, is easy to grow and easy to shape, so garden cultivation and Japanese persimmon bonsai are often seen. But apart from its fruit, the Japanese persimmon really has no ornamental value: it is a deciduous shrub with very slender branches, thorns, and rather ordinary leaves. Once it drops its leaves in winter, it is nothing but a pile of dry firewood. A fruiting Japanese persimmon is much loved by people; small and cute things are always like that. The fruit of the Japanese persimmon is orange-yellow with some spots, grows at most to the size of a thumb, looks like a golden lantern hanging from the branch, and the fruit does not fall for a long time, able to hang until the second year.

For shaping a Japanese persimmon, metal wire can be used to set the form of the trunk and main branches. Later management is mainly pruning, with hanging and tying as a supplement. For potting, a mix of river sand, leaf mold and loess in a 4:4:2 ratio can be used. After planting, water once thoroughly, place in a shady spot for half a month, then normal management can begin. After new buds appear, apply decomposed liquid fertilizer once a month, with a fertilizer-to-water ratio of 1----10. Fertilize more in spring and autumn, less in summer, and not at all in winter. Watering should keep the potting soil on the moist side; in summer, water thoroughly every night. In spring, autumn and winter, water only when the potting soil is dry, and when watering, water thoroughly.

There are several key times for pruning:

First, before bud break in spring, before March; pruning at this time easily causes new buds to sprout on the branches.

Second, in summer, cut off branches that grew too long in spring to maintain good proportions; after pruning, the ornamental period is longer, and autumn buds can draw back to make the branch form compact.

Third, in early autumn, wait until the branches thicken, then prune to foster spring buds; when pruning in autumn, be careful to keep the small fruiting branches so the female plant can bear fruit.

Seizing these three key times for pruning can make the tree form and branch pattern compact and perfect. For cold-region Japanese persimmons, which mainly produce spring buds each year, pruning back must be done before mid-autumn so that new buds are easily fostered to survive winter and spring buds burst vigorously.